Programs » Awards for Distinction
Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement
The Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement, first presented in 1988, celebrates the career of an artist who, among other distinctions, has demonstrated particular commitment to their work throughout a long career and has had an important impact nationally and internationally on the field.
2022 WINNER
Betye Saar
Betye Saar (b. 1926, Los Angeles, CA) has not only forged a singular practice for six decades but has also influenced generations of artists, makers, and thinkers. Calling upon the legacies of artists like Joseph Cornell, her symbolic and potent assemblages, of which she’s best known, reflect on the lives, experiences, and identities of African Americans, spirituality, and cultural connectivity. Part of the broader Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, Saar also confronted issues of racism and sexism in groundbreaking and radical works like The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972). Saar contends the continual thread in her work is her “curiosity about the mystical.” As she wrote in 1998, “I am intrigued with combining the remnant of memories, fragments of relics and ordinary objects, with the components of technology. It’s a way of delving into the past and reaching into the future simultaneously. The art itself becomes the bridge. Curiosity about the unknown has no boundaries. Symbols, images, place and cultures merge. Time slips away. The stars, the cards, the mystic vigil may hold the answers. By shifting the point of view an inner spirit is released. Free to create.” By foregrounding the mystical, Saar sees people, cultures, contexts, temporalities as part of a larger, interconnected spiritual fabric, an understanding that is needed in a time of extreme ideological polarization, inequities, and geopolitical strife. Saar and her practice continue to resonate and inspire current generations and those to come.
Committee:
Stephen Fakiyesi, Independent Artist, Toronto
Jessica Hong, Hood Museum, Toledo Art Museum
Beauvais Lyons, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, (Chair)
PAST WINNERS
One of CAA’s most illustrious prizes, the Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement has recognized the long, prominent, and influential careers of many contemporary artists, among them Joan Mitchell and Louise Bourgeois in the 1980s; Willem de Kooning, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and John Baldessari in the 1990s; and Alison Knowles, Elizabeth Murray, and Chris Burden in the present decade.
2021 Samella Lewis
Jury: Beauvais Lyons, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Jessica S. Hong, Hood Museum of Art; Helen O’Toole, University of Washington; and Lisa Austin, Civitas Social Sculpture.
2020 Eleanor Antin
Jury: Mira Schor, Independent Artist, chair; Nancy Bowen, Purchase College, State University of New York; and Lisa Austin, Edinboro University.
2019 Howardena Pindell
Jury: Lynne D. Allen, Boston University; Lisa Austin, Edinboro University; and Mira Schor, independent artist, New York City
2018 Pepón Osorio
Jury: Lynne D. Allen, Boston University; Judith Russi Kirshner, independent curator, Chicago; and Mira Schor, independent artist, New York City.
2017 Faith Ringgold
Jury: Patricia Cronin, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, chair; Lynne D. Allen, Boston University; and Judith Kirshner, The Art Institute of Chicago.
2016 Carmen Herrera
Jury: Susan Taylor, New Orleans Museum of Art, chair; Patricia Cronin, Brooklyn College, City University of New York; and Judith Kirshner, The Art Institute of Chicago
2015 Keith Sonnier
Jury: Roy Dowell, Otis College of Art and Design; Darby English, Clark Art Institute;and Susan Taylor, New Orleans Museum of Art.
2014 Yvonne Rainer
Jury: Judith K. Brodsky, Rutgers University, chair; Roy Dowell, Otis College of Art and Design; and Darby English, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
2013 Ellsworth Kelly
Jury: Ian Berry, Skidmore College, chair; Judith K. Brodsky, Rutgers University; and Roy Dowell, Otis College of Art and Design
2012 David Hammons
Jury: Ian Berry, Skidmore College, chair; Judith K. Brodsky, Rutgers University; and Helen Molesworth, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
2011 Lynda Benglis
Jury: Stephanie Barron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, chair; Ian Berry, Skidmore College; and Hannah Higgins, University of Illinois, Chicago
2010 Suzanne Lacy
Jury: Stephanie Barron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, chair; Hannah Higgins, University of Illinois, Chicago; and Alison de Lima Green, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2009 Chris Burden
Jury: Stephanie Barron, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, chair; Hannah Higgins, University of Illinois, Chicago; and Ann Temkin, Museum of Modern Art
2008 Sylvia Sleigh
Jury: Leo Morrissey, Winston-Salem State University, chair; Robert Berlind, Purchase College, State University of New York; and Ann Temkin, Museum of Modern Art
2007 Will Barnet
Jury: Leo Morrissey, Winston-Salem State University, chair; Robert Berlind, Purchase College, State University of New York; and Ann Temkin, Museum of Modern Art
2006 Elizabeth Murray
Jury: Hearne Pardee, University of California, Davis, chair; Georgia Strange, Indiana University; Leo Morrissey, Winston-Salem State University; and Robert Berlind, Purchase College, State University of New York
2005 Nancy Spero
Committee: Richard Roth, Virginia Commonwealth University, chair; Hearne Pardee, University of California, Davis; Buzz Spector, Cornell University; and Georgia Strange, Indiana University, Bloomington
2004 Wayne Thiebaud
Committee: Richard Roth, Virginia Commonwealth University, chair; Hearne Pardee, University of California, Davis; Buzz Spector, Cornell University; and Georgia Strange, Indiana University, Bloomington
2003 Alison Knowles
Committee: Richard Roth, Virginia Commonwealth University, chair; Bailey Doogan, University of Arizona; Buzz Spector, Cornell University; and Ann Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2002 Miriam Schapiro
Committee: Bailey Doogan, University of Arizona, chair; Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, independent artist, New Mexico; Richard Roth, Virginia Commonwealth University; and Anne Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2001 Hollis Sigler and May Stevens
Committee: Bailey Doogan, University of Arizona, chair; Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, independent artist, New Mexico; Holly Block, Art in General; Archie Rand, Columbia University; and Anne Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2000 Robert Blackburn
Committee: Deborah Willis, Smithsonian Institution, chair; Holly Block, Art in General; Joe Deal, Rhode Island School of Design; and Archie Rand, Columbia University
1999 John Baldessari
Committee: William D. Paul Jr., University of Georgia, chair; Holly Block, Art in General; Younghee Choi Martin, independent artist; and Joe Deal, Washington University in St. Louis
1998 Paul Cadmus and Agnes Martin
Committee: William D. Paul Jr., University of Georgia, chair; Joe Deal, Washington University in St. Louis; Younghee Choi Martin, independent artist; and Deborah Willis, Smithsonian Institution
1997 Peter Voulkos
Committee: Deborah Willis, Smithsonian Institution, chair; Rupert Garcia, independent artist; Younghee Choi Martin, independent artist; and Bill Paul, University of Georgia
1996 Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Committee: Deborah Willis, chair; Rupert Garcia; Richard Hunt; and Joyce Kozloff
1995 Ida Applebroog
Committee: Harry Rand, chair; Pat Adams; Rupert Garcia; Joyce Kozloff; and Margaret Lazzari
1994 Helen Frankenthaler
Committee: Harry Rand, chair; Pat Adams; and Margaret Lazzari
1993 Willem de Kooning
Committee: Whitney Davis, chair; Jack Perry Brown; and James Marrow
1992 Rupert Garcia
Committee: Joseph Mannino, chair; Camille Billops; Phillip Chen; and Margaret Lazzari
1991 Hans Haacke
Committee: Ann Page, chair; Margo Kren; Joseph Mannino; and John O’Connor
1990 Jacob Lawrence
Committee: Sam Gilliam Jr., chair; Audrey Flack; Keith Morrison; Anne Page; and Esther Parada
1989 Louise Bourgeois
Committee: Sharon Gold, chair; Deborah Butterfield; Sam Gilliam; Douglas Huebler; and Joan Semmel
1988 Joan Mitchell
Committee: Cynthia Carlson, chair; Siah Armajani; John Baldessari; Sharon Gold; and Ray Yoshida